Natalie Rooney - Shooting

Natalie Rooney is the first Kiwi shooter to be ranked number one in the world.

Shooter Natalie Rooney. Credit: Photosport.

Rooney was born in Timaru and has been competing in shooting internationally for 10 years.

Her first major competition was the 2007 Sydney Youth Festival where she placed fourth.

Although Rooney missed out on selection for the London 2012 Olympics, she competed at both the Delhi 2010 and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

In Delhi, she came fifth in the trap singles event and seventh in the trap pairs, while she stepped even closer to the podium in Glasgow, placing fourth.

From 2012, she began training three months of the year in Europe with top Italian shooting coach Andrea Miotto.

Rooney attended her first Olympics at Rio in 2016. She ended up winning New Zealand’s first medal of the Games when she took out silver in the trap singles.

In 2017, after strong performances in World Cup meets in Mexico and Cyprus, Rooney became the world number one trap shooter for the first time, replacing the gold medal winner from Rio 2016, Australian Catherine Skinner.

This achievement made her the first Kiwi, man or woman, to hold a number one ranking in any of the shooting disciplines. Skinner has since reclaimed the number one spot.

Rooney is part of an experienced team of 11 shooters named to compete on the Gold Coast, with this being her third appearance at the Commonwealth Games.

When she is not training and competing, Rooney is a qualified accountant and works for her father’s South Canterbury-based business, Rooney Earthmoving.